UK Gamecube out 3rd May for ONLY £150

[Ono]

www.computerandvideogames.com have the leaked news ahead of Monday's Official Announcement.

This is fantastic news and a brilliant price.

Gosen will state that Nintendo expects more than 20 software titles to be available from launch day, which is the largest ever line-up of software ever for a console launch. By the summer there will be almost 50 titles available for Gamecube.


Most notable of all is the price: £150 (249 Euros) means you can buy two Gamecubes for the price of an Xbox, and, crucially, it undercuts PS2 by £50. Nintendo may have given Microsoft a two month lead, but with an irresistible price point, expansive launch line-up and confirmed date of May 3, Microsoft and Sony better watch their backs - Gamecube's about to rock Europe.

At that price i cant see how they can go wrong.....

Well, well, well.

Totally unexpected but very welcome. Usual hype about software availability on lauch day but even if only half of it gets to the shops it'll be a serious kick in the pants for PS2 and XBOX. Will it make any difference though? PS2 is entrenched, XBOX was always going to be more expensive anyway, so nothing has changed except that Nintendo have at last done the honourable thing. At £150 the possibility of owning at least two systems doesn't look so unlikely.

Yummy!

Here is some even better news, the cube will have a PL60 mode toggled by holding 'B' on startup (replacing Prog scan as seen on US\Jap machines) and will have RGB support unlike the import ones.

It will go like sh*t of a shovel Launching with a Star wars game a week before Episode 2, and with FIFA ( need Pro evo..) just before the world cup.

info taken from EDGE forums posted by tony mott (ex editor of mag)

Hopefully this will mean an RGB mod for import consoles for people like me who want prog scan, but have crappy old tv's!

[Rock Da Bass]

Wow! This means I can get a gamecube with Star Wars, Luigi's Mansion, Wave Race and that Monkey Ball thingy for about £300.

Roll on May 3. (it's for my 4 year old daughter of course. That's what I'll be telling the wife anyway!)

I sold my N64 a couple of years back and have regretted it ever since. Nintendo UNDOUBTEDLY make the best games and that's what counts.

Also, the dinky little cube design looks pretty neat and innovative. I've seen people in other threads say it looks too much like a toy. If it's not a toy, what exactly is a games console?

[tryingtimes]

At £150 the possibility of owning at least two systems doesn't look so unlikely.

Well, Lieutenant -you seem to have hit the nail right on it's little head. I think it will make a difference for exactly that reason.

I also think that come little johny's birthday that £150 will be a much easier sell to his parents.
They're going to drop the price of the GBA as well which will mean that you can buy both for about the same as a PS2 game pack.

I think that summer 2002 to christmas 2003 is going to be the most exciting time that the world of videogames has ever had

Unfortunately it means that being a dedicated gamer (all 4 consoles plus games for each is going to cost a cool grand Damn you Microsoft

[Shirker]

Hey, 3rd May, That's my mums birthday.

Wonder if she wants one?

[common]

Do you think this will knock the stuffing out of the import market ?

I would be a bit annoyed right know if I had just paid £350 for a jap / us one. I've noticed a sudden decline on ebay for import cube's - wonder why ?

You can only dream but wouldn't it be great if Microsoft used a bit of it's financial muscle and put the Xbox at £199 !

It's an odd feeling as a British consumer getting the warm glow of value for money !

Nice one Nintendo - roll on May 3rd

[tryingtimes]

You can only dream but wouldn't it be great if Microsoft used a bit of it's financial muscle and put the Xbox at £199 !

That'd be nice! THe concensus is though that they are already loosing a £100 on every box sold even now!
Obviously that will level out sometime during the first half of this year but you can't blame them for keeping it at 299!

Your comment about the import market is bang on. Although projector users may prefer the 480p on the import versions. Of course if there was no easy mod I would always get an import as I'm too inpatient

'Nintendo has slashed the cost of its GameBoy Advance handheld by a third in Europe. The company today announced a global price drop for the system, effective February 1st, 2002. After more than six months at €150 (£90), the console begins a new life at €99 (£60), also dropping to 8800 yen (€75 / £45) in Japan and $79.95 (€92 / £55) in the States.'

from www.eurogamer.net

Gamecube and Gameboy Advance for £80 less then x-box - mmmmm

<speculation>

I would expect Microsoft will leave it at £299 for launch and when the factories (which have been contracted out to 3rd parties remember) are running smoothly, they will squeeze the production companies margins, and combined with refinement of the internals, cut costs enough for, say a £199 XBox for Christmas.

<\speculation>

[tryingtimes]

Due to the overbuilt nature of the PS2 I wouldn't be surprised if they had to redesign it (a la PSONE) to get the price below £149.

That gives Gamecube (I think they could easily go to the magic £99) the distinct price advantage for the foreseable future. I don't think Xbox can go much below £199.

But I guess all these companies have deep pockets and could surprise us!

[alextgreen]

Hold your horses guys! Nothing is ever that starightforward as we all well know. There have been some VERY serious comments raised on this issue. Anyone who reads MCV (video game industry mag) will have read the 'major game retailer' (this means EB/Game)'s objection:

"Nintendo have not talked to us about a model that would allow us to reach a retail price of £149 for the gamecube. If that's where it ends up with other retailers then we probably wouldn't even stock it"

Hints on assorted sites are suggesting that there will be sub £5 margins for retailers at this price. It may well be a bit more than that, but a lot of retaielrs have said that £149 is unacceptable, £159 is a definite possibility, but to maintain a standard (rip off britain) margin, retailers commented that they would be happy at £169.

Funnily enough, European retailers were happy at this price level.

[tryingtimes]

Well a few local shops have already started taking preorders at 149.99!
Sod EB/Game!

[rigman]

I suppose they must own www.gameplay.co.uk as they are currently advertising it at £169.99, games at £39.99 and then have the audacity to offer a cosole and any game for £199.99 claiming that you will save £10. You will save £20 by not buying it from them in the first place.

Darren